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From the Inside looking out.
SFC Dennis Wilson From KS (A Friend)
I am now back in the states and due to my knee injury most likely I will not be returning to Baghdad. The following is by no means a political statement or endorsement of any kind, just an opinion. Like all Americans I have one too. Someone recently asked me at my daughters school when I was picking her up if I would still consider voting for Bush even though I got sent to Iraq as a National Guardsmen. I said yes, it was not Bushes fault that my unit was called up. Any number of units have been called up. Here in my own home state of Kansas we have units either being called up or called up already and are serving over seas. My old armor unit was called up for duty in Bosnia just a few months ago. I told this lady that it was my belief that we were correct in going in, but the timing sucked. It is documented that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, Saddam used chemical weapons on his own people right after Desert Storm. Slaughtered men, women and children. Everything pointed to the fact that he still had them in his possession. I can’t go in to details, but I talked to people who were looking into this stuff and it was there, we just didn’t find it. So where did it go? Buried in the desert somewhere? Gone to another country? Not sure we will ever know, but that don't mean we will quit looking. I do know this, the American Media is a farce, nothing but hot air. I will never trust the media again, with some exceptions to local newspapers who report the facts and not sensational journalism. I want to know how come no big stories have been done on the freedoms Iraqis now have that they never had under Saddam? How come the number of power generating plants hasn’t been reported, except maybe in passing. The media reports that there are wide spread brown outs and much of the country still doesn’t have power. They don't report that the power levels are 3-5 times higher than anytime under Saddam. They haven’t reported that that the power consumption has gone up because the Iraqi people are now able to buy air conditioners and radios, heck, just about every house in Baghdad has a Satellite antenna for their new TV’s. I personally saw a neighbor hood watch set up by a local Sheik. That wasn’t in the news. They are making their homes safe to live in.
REALITY The local Police are now out arresting criminals. The Iraqi National Guard is kicking butt in a lot of places they would run from before. No , the good is not being reported, just the sensational stuff. Good don't seem to cut it for the main stream media.
SSG Travis McClain and SPC Smith (More Friends)
In my camp we had anywhere from 300-450 local Iraqis that came in every day to work. 98% of them were glad to see us and the other 2% either didn’t give a damn or didn’t like us and considered us occupiers. Sometimes it feels like we have more then that 2% right here at home. But they still came to work though, to get that American dollar. I had tea every day at noon with an Iraqi construction supervisor who was working on building next to our barracks, he was generally glad to see me every day, and never asked me for food, instead they fed me lunch with out asking for anything in return. I gave him some tennis shoes which to me were worn out, but to him were brand new. His were held together with duck tape. We paid some Iraqis to clean our barracks. Menial labor that any American teenager would bitch about. They gladly work a day for nothing more than 10 bucks. Some say Arab people are lazy. Well some in America move at a more leisurely pace then others are they lazy? Or just more deliberate? I saw lazy Iraqis and I saw Iraqis that literally worked the skin from their hands because they had the freedom to work where they wanted and they wanted to send their kids to a better schools. They are working long and hard for their freedom and are thrilled to do so.
SSG McClain with local Iraqis (A Friend With Friends)
Is there corruption in the new government? Well its a government isn’t it? I would say that one of the most corrupt places in the world is Washington DC. Some say it's just politics. Americans are mostly uninformed as to what is really going on over there. I feel that America relies on TV and what the news reports to much. They don't ask enough questions or press hard enough for a truthful answer. When you see a headline that one more Marine or Soldier lost his life, ask yourself, how many were saved, both here and in Iraq? America is falling asleep again. 911 was a wake up call for a minute. It’s a new world now. Before it was the Bear and the Eagle lined up on different sides each knowing what the other was capable of and neither one really wanting to suffer the consequences of conflict.. Today there are no set sides. We have an ideology, a fanaticism, small groups around the world that have one goal. Destroy America and all she stands for. The last thing these murdering bullies want is freedom because freedom of the people exposes them for what they are. Nothing. Look at what Europe is doing, you have countries that have been enemies for hundreds of years cooperating to make their countries economies better. The European Union. It's growing.
The US is not going to
have any one country as its enemy, its going to be a lot of creepy crawly
people that come from the dregs of all societies. Some will fight for their
religious beliefs some for money. Yes, I know from experience, sometimes law enforcement may jump the gun so to speak, and be a bit tougher than they should have on some people, but as a school trained police officer serving in a non paid reserve position, I know that a cop is out there by himself with nothing but his or her instincts to rely on, so they are a bit abrupt sometimes, maybe they just came from a call where some scum bag beat his wife and kids and they had to deal with the emotional trauma. In some European countries the cops can beat you just for looking at them wrong. We have it good in America, maybe too good. What happened to values? A lot of people want to scream about rights, how about responsibilities? Nothing is free people, especially freedom. One of the things I like about the Boozefighters I have met is they have values, they value friendship, family, brotherhood, they have family values and a great love for America. I am probably closer to some Boozefighters than I am to my own 3 brothers.
Wake up America, take a
look around you, ask questions, we as Americans take too many things for
granted. Why do so many people adopt foreign babies? Because it’s a legal
nightmare to adopt an American baby.
This may seem a bit rambled, I have tried to connect everything as best I could, but I am not a writer, I hate to write, just ask my wife. I can’t spell for shit, even though I have a masters degree and some doctoral hours toward a PhD. But its how I feel on some subjects mainly dealing with Iraq and how our being there has affected my thoughts and mind set. Feel free to email me and bitch or argue, I love a good argument and will argue my point of view very vocally and will not back down, unless proved wrong, then I will admit I am wrong and take responsibility for my actions. Some Americans have a problem with that. When proven wrong they just keep on talking, they think talking louder makes them righter. I call them big mouthed small minded people. We all know some of them. I did not lose anyone over there that I was real close to. I was lucky. I did lose some from a unit I talked to on the radio every night. I will remember them always. I have held a wounded soldier in my arms as he was bleeding from 4 wounds. He was doing his job, he was one of many doing their job. I have fired my weapon against an enemy that was trying to kill me and my fellow soldiers. It's not a battle any of us asked for, just a job we were told to do. We do it well, we will always do it well. America is a free country and our military will keep it that way so If you don’t like what I say you have a right to disagree with me. Let us talk, let us reason, it's the American way. This is dedicated to all those that have served before me, are serving now and those who will serve. and most assuredly to those that have fallen for they have given their all so we can speak our minds, share our thoughts and hold fast our convictions.
Captain Garrett Martin
Army National Guard Chapter 49 Boozefigher Hang around
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